Edward Snowden: Bitcoin strengthened despite government crackdowns
Former United States Central Intelligence Agency agent Edward Snowden has praised the resilience of Bitcoin (BTC) amid sustained global regulatory scrutiny on cryptocurrencies.
The famous whistleblower tweeting on Sunday stated that Bitcoin has gotten stronger following government bans and anti-crypto policies.
Sometimes I think back to this and wonder how many people bought #Bitcoin then.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 3, 2021
It's up ~10x since, despite a coordinated global campaign by governments to undermine public understanding of—and support for—cryptocurrency.
China even banned it, but it just made Bitcoin stronger. https://t.co/pbnOFGfaVf
His tweet was in tandem with remarks he made back on March 13, 2020, during the agony of the Black Thursday decline that saw the crypto and equity markets crash following fears of the coronavirus pandemic.
Snowden was unfazed by Bitcoin’s 50% drop as at then, suggesting that it was the first time he “felt like buying Bitcoin.”
During the Black Thursday crash of March 2020, Bitcoin dipped to $3,800 but has since rebound to set a new all-time high of about $64,800. As of press time, BTC was trading at nearly $50,000, a price increase of over 10 times since Snowden’s tweet back in March 2020.
2021 has been laced with multiple crypto crackdowns, especially in China where authorities have intensified the restrictions on all cryptocurrency activities.
Several Bitcoin miners have migrated from the region and have moved their hardware to more crypto-friendly locations on foreign shores. The initial clampdown on crypto mining activity in China temporarily caused a massive drop in Bitcoin’s hash rate.
Some American regulators and congressmen have also expressed some sort of hesitancy in adopting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with some members of Congress espousing negative rhetoric about cryptocurrencies while calling for stricter laws.
Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler has also pushed for more stringent cryptocurrency laws that critics suggest could suffocate digital innovation in America.
However, Bitcoin has continued to see an increase in adoption, with different countries integrating the digital asset on different platforms.
El Salvador recently made history as the first country to accept BTC as legal tender in a move that could have a significant impact across Central and South America, although not without its challenges.
Snowden’s previous comment concerning El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law suggested that other nations could become motivated to accept BTC as a reserve asset.